354th Fighter Wing Commanders hosts first all call

Col. Benjamin Bishop, the 354th Fighter Wing commander, held his first all call Oct. 25, 2018 at the Eielson Air Force Base theatre, officially introducing himself to the Iceman team and stating his goals for Eielson’s future.

He began by discussing the importance of taking care of families.

“It’s important for me to bring my Air Force family and family together, any time we have the the opportunity to do that it makes us more resilient and more lethal,” Bishop said. “The more resilient we are at home the better prepared we are for the mission.”

He then transitioned into speaking about the F-35 program and the importance of continued engagement with the local community, saying they were a key part in the future of Eielson and it’s F-35 mission.

Later he introduced the lines of effort to contribute to the national defense strategy, which are, “Build a more lethal force, strengthen alliances and attract new partners, and reform for greater performance and affordability.”

“In the 354th Fighter Wing our wheel house is to build a more lethal force and strengthen our alliances,” Bishop said. “If you look at RED FLAG, for example, that’s exactly what we do.”

During the all call, Bishop announced his command philosophy of people, mission, community.

“We must create an environment for excellence and innovation to emerge,” he said. “We do that by developing our people to embrace a proactive growth mindset.”

“We should focus on our mission with a pioneering mindset and will do that by empowering our squadrons to accomplish the mission and innovate,” he continued. “It is my intent to give them [squadron commanders] the tools and ability to go out and get the mission done.”

“I’ve already mentioned the importance of community, which is how we build resilient Airmen.” he said. “We need more housing to support the F-35 bed-down and none of them will be built on base, so that’s how I spend part of my time, engaging with the community who are going to provide that for us.”

He then spoke about the Eielson Air Force Base mission and it’s priorities of strong airmen and families, resilient infrastructure, preparing for F-35 bed-down, training joint and allied forces and improving operational readiness.

The all call concluded with Bishop and other 354th FW leaders answering the audiences questions and addressing their concerns.